


Duel

by TheColorBlue



Series: Frozen Heart [2]
Category: Frozen (2013)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-01
Updated: 2013-12-01
Packaged: 2018-01-03 03:04:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 580
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1064992
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheColorBlue/pseuds/TheColorBlue
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Fighting frozen monsters in a magical winter had not been a part of Hans' plans.<br/>(Sort of a companion short to "Thirteen Virtues," but can be read independently).</p>
            </blockquote>





	Duel

Back home, it was not uncommon for noblemen to duel to the death. 

When Hans rode up the mountain, in his head he kept repeating: do whatever it takes. 

It was what his brother Karl had often said, and Hans had listened, standing outside the circles of his brothers’ conversations. 

_Do whatever it takes._

Through the snow and the ice, and up to the northern mountain: a prince in a fairy tale was brave and good and perfect, and showed only the face that his people wanted to see. 

When the frozen monster rose up beside the bridge of ice, Hans was thrown from Sitron in Sitron’s panic. Then Hans was on the ground, in the snow and looking up. This hadn’t been part of the plan. He had anticipated a summer coronation, and the wooing of a queen, or a princess, whoever would have made herself most available. The cold, thin air up at this elevation broke apart any lingering memories of flowers and lanterns and the thawed water of the fjord. Snow flurried around the men, carried by a strong wind that stung Hans’ skin when it hit. 

His fencing and military training kicked in, and he dropped to one knee as the monster swung an enormous, clawed hand. 

As the others tried to follow, the monster easily seized them and tossed them back. It tried again to stomp on Hans, and Hans rolled out of the way, then to his feet, circling with his sword. The men of Weselton had gotten around in the confusion and were pursuing the queen. _The conniving shits,_ Hans noted with distant grimness. They couldn’t kill her. They didn’t know the nature of the magic. They had to question the queen to make certain killing her wouldn’t doom the land to an eternal curse. Hans _needed_ Arendelle intact.

The monster snarled at Hans. 

Everything felt open and cold, and also narrowed and close and distant. Hans could feel the beating of his heart, and air as it left his lungs. 

Only a lunatic would willingly get closer. Hans sprinted in closer, getting where the monster could not quickly lung at him, and swung his sword through the monster’s leg with all he had. 

The sword sliced cleanly, taking the leg with it.

_Thank God._

There was a roaring in Hans’ ears that could have been the wind, or it could have been the monster. 

Even in times of peace, it was not uncommon for noblemen to duel to the death: over honor, over personal slights, over a lover. 

_If I die today_ , was what Hans might have thought, if he’d anywhere in his mind to think. 

With its leg gone, the monster stumbled back towards the ravine, and Hans felt all the breath knocked out of him when the monster’s palm smashed into his side, throwing him to the bridge of ice, then nearly over it. Hans grabbed the rail, feeling the dull pain spike through his shoulders as his own body weight nearly pulled him into open air. 

_If I die today_.

When the men pulled him to safety, Hans took only a moment to regain the wind of him. 

It was not uncommon for noblemen to duel to the death. 

Queen Elsa had engaged in a duel, willingly or not, and Hans would do whatever it took to make sure _he won_. 

With the way clear, he led the Arendelle guards up the frozen staircase, into the palace of ice.


End file.
